The Nigerian stock market was bearish today, as the All-share Index declined further by -1.06% to close at 23,695.90 index points. Market capitalization also dropped by 1.06% to close at N12.349 trillion, as YTD loss stood at 11.83%.
Likewise, activity level decreased, as the volume and value traded fell by 24.85% and 5.35% as investors exchanged 155.74 million units of shares valued at N1.67 billion in 4,005 deals.
FBNH finished as the most active in today’s trading to boost market turnover by 27.8 million units of shares, while GUARANTY was the most traded stock by value at N314.69million. Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative with 15 losers against 13 gainers.
The depreciation in the ASI was largely driven by the Industrial Index losing 1.84% on the back of selloffs in DANGCEM (-4.33%) and BUACEMENT (-0.94%). Insurance (-0.63%), Banking (-0.26%) and Consumer Goods (-0.02%) indices all closed in the red, while the Oil & Gas index closed flat.
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Top gainers
NEIMETH up 10.00% to close at N0.66; NPFMCRFBK up 9.76% to close at N1.35; ETERNA up 9.44% to close at N2.55; CILEASING up 6.25% to close at N5.1, and MAYBAKER up 3.88% to close at N2.68.
Top losers
CAVERTON down 10.00% to close at N2.43; ARBICO 9.73% to close at N2.32; DANGCEM down 4.33% to close at N143.5; BUACEMENT down 0.94% to close at N31.6; and MTNN down 0.36% to close at N111.6.
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Outlook
Selloffs increased momentum among blue-chip stocks, as profit-taking from the last two sessions increased in. However, Nairametrics advises on picking stocks with good underlying fundamentals, such as those showing high dividend yield, though caution should be taken when making such decisions.
